The Shirelles

One of the first of the late Fifties and early Sixties girl groups and
among the few to write their own hits, the Shirelles were also one of the longest lasting

The Shirelles, a group of 16 and 17 year olds, were all friends from
Passaic High School in Passaic, New Jersey, that began singing together in 1958. Fans of
the Flamingos,Chantels, and Little Anthony and the Imperials as well as the Bobbettes, The Shirelles received a large part of their musical
education by listening to New York's premier R&B station at the time, WWRL.

The Shirelles consisted of Shirley Owens (born June 10, 1941), Addie Micki" Harris
(born January 22, 1940), Beverly Lee Born August 3, 1942) and Doris Coley (born August 2,
1941) With a strong distinctive voice, Owens was the natural leader.. Their
harmonizing in the school gym resulted in a teacher suggesting that they direct their
talents toward the school's talent show. The Shirelles then set about to writing an
original show and they wrote one about young love called "I Met Him On A
Sunday." The girls sang the song a cappella in the show and were immediate
sensations. Their friend Mary Jane Greenberg wanted to introduce them to her mother
Florence Greenberg, who owned Tiara Records, but the girls weren't interested and turned
her down. After Mary Jane's repeated request, the Poquellos finally auditioned in
Florence's living room with "I Met Him on a Sunday." On February 7, 1958
they found themselves in a recording studio doing "I Met Him On A Sunday" and
"I Want You To Be My Boyfriend." Deciding that they needed a more
commercial name, so Florence took Shirley's name, and combined it with the Chantels and
came up with the Shirelles. Promotional copies were distributed in New York in les than a
week after the audition..

The single came out in March and created enough activity for Decca to buy the masters.
On April 21, "I Met Him On A Sunday reached the Billboard charts, rising to #49. The
single became a staple on radio stations until July. The Shirelles were booked to play the
Apollo Theater in March and appeared on Dick Clark's ABC-TV Saturday show in April.

The Shirelles then began performing on the chitlin' circuit, but their mothers insisted
that the teens be chaperoned. Two of the tour's older performers, Etta James and Ruth
Brown became the designated den mothers.

Decca issued two more singles "My Love Is A Charm" and "Lonely
Nights" both which failed to chart. The Shirelles were dropped by Decca by the end of
1958.

In June 1959, the Shirelles began their comeback. They were booked into the Howard
Theater in Washington, DC, followed by the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York Greenberg
who had started Sceptor Records in the spring of 1959 and brought in
producer/writer Luther Dixon to work with the girls. The Shirelles' first Sceptor record
was a remake of the 5 Royales' 1957
single "Dedicated To The One I Love" with Doris Coley on lead, reached #83 in
July. To promote the record a long tour of one-nighters headlined by Dee Clark.

The next two singles "Doin' the Ronde" and "Please Be My Boyfriend"
went nowhere. Then the group recorded a Owens/Dixon composition, "Tonight's the
Night," which was released in April, 1960. Featuring Owens, it charted on September
12 and reached #39 Pop and #14 R&B.

In late summer of 1960, songwriters Carole King
and Gerry Goffin brought Dixon a song called "Tomorrow." The girls didn't
like it, feeling it was to white, and had to be pressured by Dixon to record it. By
the time it was released in the fall of 1960, it had become "Will You Love Me
Tomorrow," an up-tempo pop song with an exciting string arrangement and lyrics that
were ahead of their time in subject matter.

On November 21, 1960 "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" charted Pop and in two weeks
reached the top spot, the first record by a black female group to hit the top spot. Its
success put life back into "Dedicated To the One I Love" and "Tonight's the
Night" and all three were certified gold in 1961. The Shirelles ended the year by
appearing at the Brooklyn Paramount's Chiristmas Show were Brenda Lee, Bobby Rydell and
Ray Charles headlined.

The follow up was a reissue of "Dedicated To the One I Love," and it climbed
the Hot 100 so fast that "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" was still at number #3 when
it entered the Top 10.

Owen's distinctively innocent sound was now fully developed and the girl's harmonies
were polished and smoothly commercially. As a result the Shirelles charted more times Pop
(26) than R&B (20) in their career.

"Mama Said" reached #4 Pop and #2 R&B in the spring of 1961. The
Shirelles were doing so well that Decca re-issued "I Met Him On A Sunday" in
early 1961.

Doing one of Alan Freed's infrequent West Coast tours and on June 25, 1961, played the
Hollywood Bowl with Jerry Lee Lewis,
Brenda Lee, and Bobby Vee.

In early 1962 writers, Hal David, Burt Bacharach and Barney Williams gave Dixon a rock
ballad called "I'll Cherish You' which became "Baby It's You." "Baby
It's You" charted at #8 Pop and #3 R&B. Despite the Shirelles' enormous
popularity TV shows like Ed Sullivan were off limits to black girls in 1962.

In 1962 Dixon and Florence Greenberg wrote a country styled tune called "Soldier
Boy" which became the group's second number one record.

By now every every publisher and writer was trying to get a song recorded by the
Shirelles. Two songs that were passed on were "The Shoop Shoop Song, a #6 hit for
Betty Everett in 1964, and "He's a Rebel, which the Crystals took to #1 in 1962.

Shirelles and Murray the K

The Shirelles continued to appear on the charts in 1962 with "Welcome Home
Baby" (#22 Pop, #20 R&B), "Stop the Music (#36 Pop), and "Everybody
Loves a Lover" (#19 Pop, #15 R&B), but in 1963 Dixon left to work at Capitol and
Stan Green took over production. He had a strong entry with "Foolish Little
Girl" (#4 Pop, #9 R&B), but subsequent songs were weaker. Still the Shirelles
stayed in demand recording several songs for the film comedy It's a Mad, Mad,
Mad,World and touring England with
Little Richard and Duane Eddy.

During this time Shirley got married becoming Shirley Owens-Alston, and Doris became
Doris Coley-Kenner. A new comer Dionne Warwick substituted at performances for these
newlyweds and at the same time building her own career at Sceptor.

In 1964, the Shirelles were told there was no money in the trust fund by Greenberg to
protect their earnings. They attempted to leave Sceptter, but were blocked by an
injunction as lawsuits went through the courts. Scepter continued to release previously
recorded material, but without commercial success.

After the legal problems were settled, the Sirelles remained with Sceptor for another
four years. Sceptor continued to issue Shirelle records through 1968, but after
"Foolish Little Girl' the closest they came to the Top 20 out of twenty-three singles
was "Don't Say Good Night and Mean Goodbye (#26) in the summer of 1963. One song that
had a good shot was "Sha La La (early 1964), whiched charted. However as it was
starting to gain momentum Manfred Mann covered it at the beginning of the British invasion
and disc jockeys opted to play the foreign version.

The Shirelles' last charting single was "Last Minute Miracle" (#99 Pop, #41
R&B), but there wasn't any.

In 1968 Doris left the group to raise a family and the Shirelles continued on as a
trio. In 1969 they had three singles as Shirley and the Shirelles for Bell Records.
On November 29, they appeared on Richard Nader's first Rock & Roll Revival concert at
the Felt Forum in New York with the Penguins, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and the Comets, the Five
Satins, Shep and the Limelites, the Spaniels, the Mello-Kings, and Gary U.S. Bonds.

In 1970 the group signed with United Artists Records and recorded a medley of
"There Goes My Baby/"Be My Baby." In the fall of 1971 they signed with
their last label RCA, for four singles and continued touring.

In 1975 Shirley teamed up with producer and former Shirelles manager Randy Irwin for a
unique concept LP called Shirley Alston With A Little Help from Her Friends. The
friends were famous doo wop groups who backed Shirley while she sang lead on their biggest
hits, e.g., "I Only Have Eyes for You" with the Moonglows, "When or
Where" with the Belmonts, "Save the Last Dance for Me" with the Drifters,
and "In the Still of the Night" with the Five Satins. In the meantime Doris
returned and the group continued performing until June 10, 1982, when Mickey Harris died
of a heart attack while performing with the group at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta.

Entering the '90s there were at least three different Shirelle groups, each with one
original member.

The Shirelles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.